Law
Freelance journalists, poets, playwrights, translators and fiction and non-fiction book writers will join forces to protest Canada's new copyright legislation, which they say could be devastating to the writing trade, The Toronto Star reports...
The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with former newspaper magnate Conrad Black in limiting the use of a federal fraud law used by white-collar crime prosecutors...A sweeping publication ban will continue to be imposed on bail hearings, even when suspects won't face a jury trial. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a Criminal Code provision that requires judges to ban publication at the suspect's request. While the ban is designed to prevent jurors from hearing information about the suspect or the crime that might be inflammatory or inadmissible at trial, it is routinely imposed in all cases. The ban prohibits publication of all information presented at a bail hearing, including the judge's reasons for granting or denying release. The court turned down media requests to make the ban optional, and overturned a 2009 Ontario ruling that would have limited the ban to allegations of murder and other serious offences that were destined to be heard by a jury.
Read The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star reports on the ruling.
Follow the links to Toronto Star and Globe and Mail editorials criticizing the decision.
Read the court's ruling in Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada et al., which challenged bans on bail hearing held in 2006 for the Toronto 18 terrorism suspects. It incorporates the court's ruling on a companion appeal, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen et al., which arose from an Alberta murder case.
The Supreme Court of Canada's decision to uphold a sweeping ban on bail hearings is a loss for the public as well as for journalists, J-Source Law Editor Dean Jobb argues in a commentary in the Toronto Star. By shutting down informed debate over judges’ decisions to grant or deny bail to criminal suspects, the court has squandered an opportunity to enhance public confidence in the justice system.
Law
Edited by Thomas Rose
The Law Section is a clearinghouse for news, information, advice and commentary on matters of law of importance to journalists and to anyone with a passion or just a curiosity about the issues of our times.
Thomas Rose lectures in law and journalism at Wilfrid Laurier University. His research interests include journalism and democracy, international criminal law, and freedom of expression.
Thomas has published in various peer-reviewed academic journals and has an LL.M in International Law from Leiden University and a Masters in Studies of Law from Yale Law School. He is also an award winning journalist. Thomas has worked in public and private media for more than two decades as a Reporter, Senior Producer, Executive Producer, and Project Manager on national, regional and international multi-media projects. His work has taken him to Ghana, Italy, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. From 2006-2010 Thomas provided commentary and analysis on global affairs and legal issues for CBC online.
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J-Source and ProjetJ are projects of The Canadian Journalism Foundation in collaboration with leading schools and organizations Editor-in-chief, J-Source: | |||
Opinion: The National Newspaper Awards don't reflect journalism in the digital era
Melanie:
Years - decades - before he NNAs found itself in a quandry about new media, it...
Neil Reynolds remembered
Very sorry to hear about Neil Reynold's death. We need more of his kind in journalism --...
Opinion: Media's latest stories on Toronto's Mayor Ford a challenge for a court fight
Thank you, Thomas, I'll check it out.